Viswanathan Anand plays down Nodirbek's sensational 'Gukesh will lose' claim: 'That’s how the game...'

Uzbekistani Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov recently made headlines for his sensational statement on reigning world champion Dommaraju Gukesh, predicting that the 19-year-old Indian GM’s reign will come to an end during his title defence next year.

“Gukesh will lose his title in the next match. Is that controversial?” Nodirbek said in the build-up to the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, when asked to state an unpopular chess opinion.

It was only a matter of time before someone brought his statement, which has raised eyebrows across the chess community, to Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand, who happens to be a five-time world champion has also mentored Gukesh and other top stars.

Anand, however, chose to play the statement down as “good fun”.

Anand reacts to Nodirbek’s viral claim

“Yes, I am aware of it. It’s been suggested to me a lot. It keeps popping up on all my feeds. Respect to these boys. They know how to make content,” Anand said on Chess.com India’s live stream of Round 1 of FIDE Grand Swiss, taking a jibe at GM Sahaj Grover and National Master Sahil Tickoo.

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“No it’s good fun. That’s how the game is played these days,” added the former world No 1, who had become India’s first Grandmaster in 1988.

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And it’s not just Anand who has reacted to Nodirbek’s viral statement. Gukesh, whom the ‘unpopular opinion’ was aimed at in the first place, chose to stay classy in response.

“I mean, first of all, obviously, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is a great player and he’s very much capable, but (at this) the tournament he can only qualify for the Candidates, so it’s one more step to become world champion,” said Gukesh, who had become the youngest world champion in chess history last year.

“But whoever it is like, I am sure you know deserves to be there and is very much capable of playing well. I am not really rooting for anybody, I just do my part as a researcher,” he added.

While Nodirbek is competing with the likes of R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Alireza Firouzja, Ian Nepomniachtchi among other top stars for a place in next year’s Candidates Tournament, Gukesh is playing in the tournament purely to prove himself “in a different format”.